John G could finally be getting the help he needs after the NDIS confirmed it is working to review his funding rejection following a campaign by the Daily Mail Australia.
John, a former engineer who can now only walk with crutches due to a major neurological disorder, has been waiting for NDIS assistance for the past four years.
The 36-year-old Sydney man’s harrowing life story and his rejection by the NDIS has shocked and angered millions of Australians, who want to know why he failed to be included like the other 660,000 Australians in the scheme.
In more good news, a good Samaritan has stepped in to offer his therapy services for free to help John “until he gets the support he deserves” after reading about his plight in the Daily Mail Australia.
Nicholas Karam, CEO of Therapy 360, who has 20 years’ experience in the disability sector, has offered the organisation’s services free of charge to help improve John’s mobility, social engagement, physical issues and self-confidence.
When told about the offer, John expressed his gratitude but felt a little anxious about having to physically attend a clinic, saying that “just getting there and back will be the hard part.”
However, Mr Karam confirmed that a mobile Therapy360 team would visit John at his home in Ryde.
Mr Karam said he would also ask his contacts if a cleaning service could also be arranged for John’s house.
The NDIS is finally reviewing John’s rejected application and now a good Samaritan has stepped in to help John with his therapy needs while he waits for “the support he deserves”.
John with his beloved siblings, who are now almost grown but who he says “have their own lives to live” and make their way in the world just as he did.
Mr Karam said gathering evidence for an NDIS application alone can be overwhelming.
He pledged to help John with no strings attached, noting that “there have been huge changes from where he was to where he is” in the five years since John’s life deteriorated due to his neurological problems.
Regarding John’s failed application for the NDIS, the scheme’s agency, the NDIA, said in a statement: ‘To date, John has been deemed ineligible for the scheme based on the evidence available.
‘The NDIA is currently working with John and his case manager, who is supporting him to gather additional evidence to support a review of the decision.
‘To access the NDIS, a person must meet all eligibility criteria, including the NDIS eligibility requirements. criteria for permanence.
‘The NDIA must be satisfied that all relevant and appropriate treatments have been explored, resulting in permanent disability.’
A letter from John’s doctor, written for the NDIS, confirms that he suffers from a major neurological disorder and a depressive state.
The letter states that the 36-year-old man “has a severe movement disorder that restricts his mobility” and his father’s death left him “even more vulnerable.”
The doctor also said John’s condition “should be considered permanent and he should receive the maximum treatment.”
John was a hard-working and proud civil engineer on Sydney’s biggest project before becoming a self-confessed “shaky wreck”.
John (black and white T-shirt), pictured as a young man at his grandmother’s birthday party, had a fiancée, a great job and was physically fit before the neurological disorder took hold.
As John made clear from the start, ever since his plight became public after groundskeeper Nathan Stafford cut his overgrown grass for free, his condition is permanent and he can barely walk.
He cannot clean, shop, or take proper care of himself.
“It makes me very sad because I’m a high risk person for falls,” she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I can’t get on public transport because I could fall down the stairs, I could make a sudden movement and hurt someone else.
“If I hold a cup of coffee, the guy next to me might use it.”
John told Daily Mail Australia how he was a civil engineer who toiled on Australia’s biggest rail project before becoming a “quivering wreck”.
John G with Samaritan worker Nathan Stafford, who cleaned up Ryde’s yard and championed the 36-year-old, who suffers from a neurological disorder,’s application to be accepted into the NDIS.
John (left) when he was making his way, working on the Sydney Metro project before a major neurological disorder claimed his health (left)
As a youngster, he practiced taekwondo and played rugby at high school, before studying psychology and engineering and being hired to build the Sydney Metro.
He proudly described his hands-on work building the huge Metro tunnel, carrying out high-risk work with cranes, platforms and rigging as a fit and able-bodied man with a large team under his command.
As Australia’s biggest public transport project is about to come online, he can only watch from his living room.
“I had the world at my feet, I was doing very, very well, and then (the disease) came like an attack, yes, like a freight train,” he said.
Despite a promise from NDIS Minister Bill Shorten on Wednesday in response to queries on John’s behalf, he said he is still waiting for help to clean up his home.
John became ill five years ago, first with non-epileptic seizures and then “a lot of falls” and a feeling of paralysis.
After his father George passed away last year at age 70, John’s illness worsened, as did his isolation and inability to keep his house in order – a depressing reality for the former “neat freak.”
From a person who dressed smartly, socialized, had a girlfriend and hopes of having a family, John states, without self-pity, “I lost it all.”
However, NDIS bureaucrats still say you have to prove your irreversible condition is “permanent”.
“I’ve been told I’m not going to recover,” said John, who misses his active, physical life but still retains a sense of humor.
“I just hope the noise (about the NDIS) translates into action, that’s all.”
Minister Bill Shorten responded to Daily Mail Australia’s questions about John’s care on Wednesday, but John said he had received prior assurances and had “been waiting long enough”.